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Design Museum to Close for Year

The galleries of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City will close Monday for a yearlong $20-million renovation project that will integrate the museum's three buildings, create a design study center and improve access for the handicapped.

A branch of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Design Museum is devoted to historical and contemporary design. It is housed in the 1901 mansion built by industrialist Andrew Carnegie on Fifth Avenue and 91st Street and in two contiguous townhouses.

The museum, once known as the Cooper-Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, was founded in 1897 by the Hewitt granddaughters of manufacturer and philanthropist Peter Cooper. The Smithsonian took it over in 1976.